James O’Brien Rips Sangita Myska LBC Exit ‘Conspiracy’: Host Tenure Driven by Ratings, Not Israel Coverage

LBC host James O’Brien confronted “internet conspiracy theories” about the exit of his journalist colleague Sangita Myska from the station, explaining that all presenters “stand and fall” by their ratings when it comes to contract renewal.

The conversation comes after listeners raised concerns about her absence and speculated that it may be in connection with a fiery interview on her last show with Israeli government spokesman Avi Hyman.

In the intervening weeks a listener-led petition gained over 25,000 signatures demanding Myska’s reinstatement and industry colleagues weighed in to ask for an explanation, including Channel 4 international editor Lindsay Hilsum. On Wednesday, however, LBC parent company Global shared that the journalist would be leaving at the close of her two year contract in a press release announcing that former TalkTV host Vanessa Feltz would be joining the station.

On Thursday a caller to O’Brien’s current affairs call-in show raised the idea that Myska’s departure may have been related to her interview with Hyman.

The caller began by stating that they believed “journalists should be able to question, without restrictions, any of the people in power” whether “in the UK or Israel, without threat of losing their jobs.”

“Yes, so do I,” O’Brien agreed.

The caller continued: “All right, so, and I think you shouldn’t have any restrictions. There should be no censorship.”

“There isn’t,” the host said.

Continuing, O’Brien explained: “Unfortunately, like every other presenter on LBC, I stand and fall by my listening hours, by my ratings. And when my contract comes up for renewal, the first thing that management will look at is my listening figures.”

The caller said: “Yeah, that may be the case, but I’m just saying that…”

O’Brien added: “And you’ve just listened to two hours of very, very robust criticism of Israel. Nobody has ever lost their job on this radio station for their coverage of the Israeli-Gaza conflict, no matter how much stuff you’ve read on the internet.”

“Yeah, no, that may be the case, but…”

“No, mate, no, that is the case,” the host interrupted. “That is categorically the case. Internet conspiracy theories are almost impossible to get ahead of, but I just want you to rest assured that my job is safe until my listening figures come down, regardless of how I cover this issue.”

“Yeah, it’s good to clarify points,” the caller said.

O’Brien said: “I’m happy to. But equally, I completely respect any former colleague’s right to say nothing. about the situation in which they find themselves, even as all sorts of nonsense and lies move into the public space and cause enormous upset and difficulties for the people who are being accused of all manner of things, from the top of this company down. None of the things that you’re reading on the internet have happened.”

The caller repeated: “No, that’s great. No, like I said, I think that should be clarified from the top so that everybody…”

The host cut in: “Doesn’t need to be, because we all know what’s happened. We’re respecting the silence of a former colleague who’s chosen not to set the record straight.”

O’Brien’s attempt to quell speculation only appears to further fanned outrage among a portion of listeners online committed to the idea that Global dropped Myska over her Hyman interview, some of whom are calling for a boycott of the station.

Yet his evaluation seems consistent with that reported by three sources at Global who revealed to Deadline on Tuesday that executives pointed to Myska’s declining hourly listenership as a reason for the change. Even though the journalist’s overall audience had increased by 12.5 percent to 465,000, according to the latest listening figures, executives noted that hourly metrics are a more accurate gauge of listener engagement with a show.